Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

Activity chart

Last major update issued on November 7, 2014 at 04:20 UTC. No new SDO imagery due to a cut fiber cable near JSOC.

Some SDO imagery added on November 19.

[Solar and geomagnetic data - last month (updated daily)]
[Solar wind and electron fluence charts (updated daily)]
[Solar cycles 23-24 (last update October 1, 2014)] [Cycle 24 progress (last update November 1, 2014) ]
[Solar cycles 1-20]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 21, 22, 23 and 24 (last update November 1, 2014)]
[Graphical comparison of cycles 10, 12, 13, 14, 16 and 24 (last update November 1, 2014)]
[Historical solar and geomagnetic data charts 1954-2006 (last update April 5, 2007)]
[Archived reports since January 2003 (last update November 1, 2014)]

[Noon SDO sunspot count 1K Reference: 4K (large file) (updated daily)]

[POES auroral activity level October 2009 - December 2012]
[Solar polar fields vs solar cycles - updated October 11, 2014]
[Presentations: 3rd SSN Workshop, Tucson, 2013 (pdf) / 4th SSN Workshop, Locarno, 2014]

Recent activity

The geomagnetic field was quiet to unsettled on November 6. Solar wind speed at SOHO ranged between 451 and 544 km/s.

Solar flux at 20h UTC on 2.8 GHz was 135.5 (increasing 14.7 over the last solar rotation). The 90 day 10.7 flux at 1 AU was 141.4. The Potsdam WDC planetary A index was 6 (STAR Ap - based on the mean of three hour interval ap indices: 5.5). Three hour interval K indices: 12212113 (planetary), 12323322 (Boulder).

The background x-ray flux is at the class B9 level.

C2+ flares (GOES):

Magnitude Peak time (UTC) Location AR Comment
C3.3 00:51 N14E58 12205  
M3.2/2N 01:39 N15E58 12205  
C6.0 02:57   12205  
M5.4/1N (LDE) 03:50 N17E58 12205 CME
C3.8 14:24      
M2.5/1N 22:16 N14E45 12205  
C6.4 23:34 N16E47 12205  

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs)

November 4-5: No obviously Earth directed CMEs were observed in LASCO imagery.
November 6: A partial halo CME was observed after the M5.4 LDE in AR 12205.

Coronal holes

[Coronal hole history (since October 2002)]
[Compare today's report to the situation one solar rotation ago: 28 days ago 27 days ago 26 days ago]

No obvious coronal holes are currently in or near Earth facing positions.

Propagation

Long distance low and medium frequency (below 2 MHz) propagation along paths north of due west over upper middle latitudes is poor. Propagation on long distance northeast-southwest paths is fair.

Forecast

The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet on November 7-8. On November 9 there's a chance of unsettled and active intervals should the CME observed on November 6 reach Earth.

Coronal holes (1) Coronal mass ejection (2) M and X class flares (3)
     

1) Effects from a coronal hole could reach Earth within the next 5 days. When the high speed stream has arrived the color changes to green.
2) Effects from a CME are likely to be observed at Earth within 96 hours.
3) There is a possibility of either M or X class flares within the next 48 hours.

Green: 0-30% probability, Yellow: 30-70% probability, Red: 70-100% probability.

Active solar regions

(Click on image for 2K resolution) Compare to the previous day's image. 0.5K image

When available the active region map has a coronal hole polarity overlay where red (pink) is negative and blue is positive.

Data for all numbered solar regions according to the Solar Region Summary provided by NOAA/SWPC. Comments are my own, as is the STAR spot count (spots observed at or inside a few hours before midnight) and data for regions not numbered by SWPC or where SWPC has observed no spots. SWPC active region numbers in the table below and in the active region map above are the historic SWPC/USAF numbers.

Active region Date numbered
detected
Spot count Location at midnight Area Classification SDO / HMI 4K continuum
image with magnetic polarity overlay
Comment
SWPC Magnetic
(SDO)
SWPC STAR Current Previous
2K 1K
12200 2014.10.28
2014.10.30
      S17W50         plage
12199 2014.10.29
2014.10.30
      S17W75           plage
12201 2014.10.29
2014.10.30
10     S04W33 0070 DAI    

 

12202 2014.10.29
2014.10.30
2     N13W77 0010 AXX      
S3952 2014.10.30       N12W40          
12204 2014.10.31
2014.11.01
3     N06W15 0020 CRO      
12203 2014.10.31
2014.11.01
6     N15W59 0110 CAO    

 

S3957 2014.11.01       S23W24          
S3958 2014.11.02       N06W38          
S3959 2014.11.02       N08W46           plage
12205 2014.11.03 24     N15E46 0360 EKC     beta-gamma-delta
S3960 2014.11.03       S07E20           plage
S3961 2014.11.03       S07W00           plage
12206 2014.11.04 2     S15E25 0010 AXX      
S3963 2014.11.04       S22E47          
S3964 2014.11.04       S16E42          
S3965 2014.11.04       N11E10           plage
Total spot count: 47      
Sunspot number: 107      (total spot count + 10 * number of spotted regions)
Weighted SN: 70      (Sum of total spot count + classification weighting for each AR. Classification weighting: X=0, R=3, A/S=5, H/K=10)
Relative sunspot number (Wolf number): 64     k * (sunspot number). k = 0.6 for SWPC, k = 0.35 for MSN 2K, k = 0.55 for MSN 1K (MSN=Magnetic Sunspot Number)

Monthly solar cycle data

Month Average solar flux International sunspot number
(WDC-SILSO)
Smoothed sunspot number Average ap
(3)
Measured 1 AU
2013.07 115.5 119.3 57.0 65.5 (+2.9) 9.47
2013.08 114.6 118.3 66.0 69.0 (+3.5) 8.27
2013.09 102.6 103.7 36.9 73.1 (+4.1) 5.23
2013.10  132.1 131.2 85.6 75.0 (+1.9) 7.71
2013.11  148.3 145.1 77.6 75.4 (+0.4) 5.68
2013.12 147.7 143.1 90.3 76.0 (+0.6) 4.68
2014.01 157.4 152.4 81.8 77.3 (+1.3) 5.44
2014.02 170.3
(cycle peak)
166.3 102.3 (cycle peak) 78.4 (+1.1) 10.70
2014.03 149.9 148.5 91.9 80.8 (+2.4) 4.88
2014.04 143.9 144.8 84.7 81.9 (+1.1)
(likely solar max)
7.88
2014.05 129.7 132.9 75.2 (80.3 projected, -1.6) 5.75
2014.06 122.0 125.8 71.0 (78.7 projected, -1.6) 6.72
2014.07 137.4 141.8 72.5 (77.1 projected, -1.6) 4.50
2014.08 124.7 127.9 74.7 (74.7 projected, -3.0) 7.71
2014.09 146.6 148.1 87.6 (71.5 projected, -3.2) 9.78
2014.10 153.4 152.9 60.6 (69.0 projected, -2.5) 8.6
2014.11 128.2 (1)   19.5 (2A) / 97.5 (2B) / 80.0 (2C) (67.3 projected, -1.7) (8.3)

1) Running average based on the daily 20:00 UTC observed solar flux value at 2800 MHz.
2A) Current impact on the monthly sunspot number based on the Boulder (NOAA/SWPC) sunspot number (accumulated daily sunspots / month days). The official WDC-SILSO international sunspot number is typically 30-50% lower. 2B) Boulder SN current month average to date. 2C) STAR SDO 1K Wolf number 30 day average.
3) Running average based on the quicklook and definitive Potsdam WDC ap indices. Values in red are based on the definitive international GFZ Potsdam WDC ap indices.

This report has been prepared by Jan Alvestad. It is based on the analysis of data from whatever sources are available at the time the report is prepared. All time references are to the UTC day. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

SDO images are courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams.